Banks Recovering From Sandy Aftermath

Major U.S. banks said on Wednesday they
had reopened more than half of the branches that were closed as
Hurricane Sandy battered the U.S. East Coast earlier this week.

Major U.S. banks said on Wednesday they
had reopened more than half of the branches that were closed as
Hurricane Sandy battered the U.S. East Coast earlier this week.

JPMorgan Chase & Co said it had reopened 587 Chase
branches, about 55 percent of the total in the states of New
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Nearly 60 percent of the New
York City-based bank's 3,200 automated teller machines in the
area were running.

Citigroup Inc, as of mid-day Wednesday, had re-opened
55 percent of its nearly 300 branches in and around New York
City. Some 70 percent of 1,500 automated teller machines in the
area were working.

Wells Fargo & Co said that nearly 90 percent of its
nearly 1,200 branches in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C.,
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had
re-opened.

Bank of America Corp said about 75 percent of its
1,700 banking centers in the Northeast were functioning again.
It had 13 branches open in Manhattan and planned to have several
more open on Thursday. It was also deploying mobile ATMs in the
area.

At least 134 of the 183 Morgan Stanley brokerage
offices that were closed had reopened by mid-morning, the
company said. The offices that remained closed either lacked
electricity or were inaccessible due to flooding or other
damage. Most of the closed offices were in New Jersey and New
York, with some in Connecticut.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc opened both its headquarters
in lower Manhattan and its office across the river at 30 Hudson
Street in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Wednesday.

Goldman offices in Princeton, New Jersey, and Greenwich,
Connecticut, were open for some employees, while others worked
remotely. Staff in the securities division - especially those
who live in Manhattan - generally came into the office, though
the lack of public transportation and traffic made commutes
longer than usual.

Goldman's two main buildings in the New York area, on
opposite sides of the Hudson River, sustained some flooding but
no serious damage from the hurricane, a representative said.

Citigroup's lower Manhattan buildings used for trading and
investment banking remain closed. The company said on Tuesday
night that it would update information on access to those
Greenwich Street buildings later this week.

A Citigroup spokeswoman said the company is using back-up
offices to continue to do business.

Bank of America's 2 and 4 World Financial Center offices in
lower Manhattan were closed, but its One Bryant Park location in
Midtown was open.